Two new SSDs announced in WD_Black line for consoles and PC

Western Digital is all in on flash technology, and it showed in their Western Digital Flash Perspective briefing today. Whether you are a gamer or a commercial client, they had something to share. As data sets get larger, networks get faster, game assets hit 4K and beyond, and our world becomes increasingly interconnected, information storage and mobility becomes critical. Let’s dig into some of the innovations that Western Digital is looking to bring to us in the remainder of 2021 and beyond.

As Executive Vice President and General Manager, Flash Business Rob Soderbery proudly proclaimed that “Over 40% of the entire world’s data is stored on a Western Digital product”, it is clear that they aren’t losing sight of the spinning platter HDD market. That said, today was all about that sweet, sweet NAND. Let’s get into the two new gaming devices we’ll see coming our way this summer.

With 3 billion gamers and a market that is set to grow from 170 billion in 2020 to 290 billion in the next five years, Western Digital recognizes that exciting opportunities exist to engage with folks like us. Their gaming division, dubbed WD_Black has put out some incredible products like the WD_Black D50 dock (our review) and the powerful WD_Black AN1500 (our review). Now their eye has turned to internal storage for PC once again, and external storage for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S with two new products — the WD_Black SN750 SE NVMe and the WD_Black SN750 SE NVMEe SSD. Let’s dig in.

The WD_Black SN750 SE NVMe SSD is a PCIe 4.0 drive, taking advantage of the capabilities brought by AMD and Intel’s latest chips. Available in speeds from 250GB to 4TB (pricing below), these new drives will hit a staggering 3600MB/s for read and write speeds.

250GB – $59.99
500GB – $69.99
1TB – $149
2TB – $379
4TB – $799

Rob Soderbery said “Our WD_Black brand delivers a clear and simple promise to gamers: fast and reliable storage that enhances their gameplay. With today’s new products, the WD_Black portfolio has diverse flash-powered solutions so that every gamer, whether they’re just starting out or more advanced, can explore the rich worlds of today’s most inventive games”.

Geoff Keighley, host of the annual Game Awards backed this assertion, stating “Over the past few years the graphics and fidelity of immersive game worlds have become more intense, and flash technology has become critical to enhancing the gaming experience. Gamers not only need more storage, they need speed for quick access so they can instantly step into these rich game worlds and experience games the way they’re meant to be played” — something we’ve stated many times in our own reviews and analysis.

Shifting focus to the console market, Western Digital also announced the WD_Black D30 Game Drive SSD. These drives will function on the XBox Series X and S, as well as the PlayStation 5, though neither will allow you to directly run games from them until Microsoft and Sony release heavily-hinted updates to enable that functionality for external high-speed storage. Until then, this drive will be fantastic for shuffling games in and out as you play them from time to time while keeping them patched and ready to go.

500GB – $139
1TB – $199
2TB – $349
4TB – $749

Both drives are available for pre-order at Western Digital’s site, so if you want to pick up a SN750 SE NVMe or a D30 Game Drive SSD, hit the links.

Stay tuned as we wait to get our hands on these new entries from the WD_Black line and put them through their paces.

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